Share this:

This 6-foot stainless-steel soaking bath by Diamond Spas was used in a spacious Westchester bathroom. Photo: Bruce Buck

Sheldon Malc knows bathrooms. As showrooms manager of Davis & Warshow, New York’s venerable kitchen and bath source, Malc has seen many changes over the 40-odd years he’s been in the business.

“There’s so much technology being integrated into the bathroom,” he says. “There’s lighting right in the bathroom mirror. A television integrated in the mirror. There are embedded defrosters to keep the mirror clear. There are waterproof systems installed in the shower so you can watch TV.”

Really, people want to watch the news while they shampoo their hair?

“People don’t have time to take baths anymore,” says Malc. “The shower has become far more important.”

On the forefront of this shower technology trend is Kohler, which recently introduced the Moxie, a combination showerhead and detachable Bluetooth wireless speaker that allows you to listen to music and podcasts while you soap up.

“It’s a seamless, subtle integration of music in the shower,” says Lynn Schrage, senior manager of Kohler Showrooms. “In an urban environment like New York, where every inch counts, it’s important to create more experiences without added clutter.” Schrage also points to the company’s DTV Prompt digital-showering system, which lets you control the direction of spray and the water temperature with “a simple control interface that is sleek and very clean in appearance.”

Many of the city’s newer residential projects are creating shower experiences that resemble what you would see in a hotel or spa. “The shower is a double-shower, big enough for two people,” says architect Audrey Matlock of 57 Irving Place, a nine-unit condo building she designed in Gramercy Park. “It also has jets so you’re pounded by water in all directions. And the showerheads are flush into the ceilings so the surface is simple and clean.”

That’s not to say that bathtubs have become obsolete. Far from it.

In the case of 57 Irving Place, Matlock chose a freestanding tub to take advantage of the natural light and floor-to-ceiling windows and balcony off the bathroom. “This isn’t a tub shoved into a corner,” says the architect. “It’s sculptural, an object of nature.”

Bathtubs have almost become works of art, as with designer Clodagh’s just-launched Azrama collection for Porcelanosa. The sculptural line includes a stone tub designed for two “to lounge face to face,” inspired, she notes, by “two lovers conversing happily together in a hammock.”

And if you’re in the suburbs, where bathrooms can be larger than some New York apartments, a tub can make an even bigger statement — literally. As in the case of the 6-foot freestanding stainless-steel soaking tub that SGH Designs installed in the 600-square-foot bathroom of a Westchester client. “The angle is pitched on the inside, so it’s extremely comfortable,” Stephen Huberman, SGH Designs’ president, says of the custom-made Diamond Spa tub, which cost about $5,000. “It also holds the heat longer. But this was an aesthetic choice, for a very contemporary house . . . the client wanted innovative materials — and had the pocketbook. It’s a very niche specialty, this tub.”

But if you’re making design decisions for 106 apartments, as Gal Nauer Architects (GNA) did for the 250 West St. luxury condo development, you have to play it a bit safer. “Because the building needed to be appealing to many people, the bathrooms couldn’t be too stylized,” says Richard Cantor, a principal with 250 West’s marketing brokerage, Cantor & Pecorella. “GNA wanted something elegant, classic, but with a TriBeCa sensibility.”

“Sometimes, developers go over the top with bathrooms; here, everything was both luxurious and practical,” says Ariana Meyerson, managing director at Cantor & Pecorella, of 250 West St., where prices are around $1,600 per square foot.

Similarly, 845 West End Ave., the 2011 conversion of a 1930 building to luxury condos, appealed to buyers looking for classic styling and a historic Upper West Side address. “It’s a fresh, clean, contemporary take on prewar,” says developer Atlas Capital’s director of construction and building operations, Louis Blum, of the 40 converted units, done by Cetra/Ruddy. “We went with a neutral palette. In the master bath, we used stone tile for the walls and basket-weave, monochromatic marble. In the secondary baths, we went contextual and used subway tile.”

The fixtures throughout 845 West End Ave. were by Brooklyn-based Watermark Designs. “I wanted to go with a local manufacturer,” says Blum. “And their timeless designs fit the prewar context of the building.”

And, adds Blum, high-end buyers “really responded to the quality and the finishes” at 845 West End Ave., where four-bedrooms have commanded prices close to $4 million. “You have to go with this kind of quality for the demographic.”